The River Vale School District recognizes the value of using assessments to drive instruction. Assessments provide students with opportunities to practice skills and demonstrate understanding of content, and provide teachers with valuable information regarding student progress that can be used to raise student achievement.

Some assessments are formal, such as tests, quizzes, projects, and standardized assessments, while some are informal, such as class participation, discussion, and student surveys. Moreover, there is an important distinction between formative assessments, which enable teachers to closely monitor student progress, and summative assessments, which enable students to demonstrate their learning of a particular subject matter.

ASSESSMENTS

AimswebPlus
AimswebPlus is a benchmark assessment that is administered to our kindergarten students and students who are identified as "at-risk." Similar to Linkit, AimswebPlus is administered 3 times per year to monitor growth and identify learning gaps.

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)
DIBELS is an early literacy screening and progress-monitoring assessment administered to students in grades K–3 three times per year. The assessment measures foundational reading skills, including phonemic awareness, decoding, and reading fluency. Results are used to inform instruction, identify students who may need additional support, and monitor growth over time.

In View
The InView test is a cognitive skills assessment given to students in grades 3 and 5 during the month of October, and is used exclusively as one of several measures of criteria for the district's PoGStudio and Elementary Enrichment Math programs. The test is given within a 90-120 minute time frame. No accommodations or modifications are available. Basic information, including a completed test of sample items, is sent home prior to the test. Results are mailed directly to parents.

Linkit!
LinkIt Benchmark Assessments are a diagnostic tool that provides reports by standards and other tags (topics, skills, etc.). The reports enable the user to analyze student growth over time and see question content, answer choices, and student responses. The River Vale School District is implementing the LinkIt Assessments during the 2022-2023 school year as an additional means of measuring student progress and growth.

These benchmark assessments are administered 3 times per year to students in grades 1-8 (approximately once per trimester) but can also be used as additional progress monitoring as is required for individual students.

NJSLA-A (New Jersey Student Learning Assessment — Adaptive) in English Language Arts and Mathematics
The NJSLA-A is the statewide assessment in English Language Arts and Mathematics aligned to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. The computer-based assessment, administered to students in grades 3-8, uses adaptive technology to adjust the difficulty of questions based on student responses. Results provide information about student progress toward grade-level standards and help inform instructional planning.

NJSLA Science (New Jersey Student Learning Assessment — Science)
The NJSLA Science assessment measures student understanding of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science. The assessment evaluates students’ ability to apply scientific concepts, practices, and reasoning skills.
NJSLA Science is administered to students in grades 5 and 8. 

Predictive Assessment of Reading (PAR)
The PAR Assessment is the district's Dyslexia screener, administered to students identified as "at-risk" readers by the middle of grade 2. This assessment identifies skills in need of intervention and predicts future reading achievement. The PAR assesses students in four domains: fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary.